UPCOMING EVENTS

Nintendo finally announced that it is introducing a new Mario game to Apple’s iOS app store for the first time.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the chief game designer at Nintendo, made the announcement at Apple’s press event in San Francisco. Super Mario Run is a new side-scrolling endless runner game designed for iOS.

“I’m so happy to announce today he is coming to the App Store,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook as he introduced Miyamoto. “The father of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto.”

Cheers erupted as Miyamoto, who created Mario 35 years ago, took the stage.

Above: Shigeru Miyamoto on stage at Apple’s event.

Image Credit: Apple

The game is coming soon, in time for the holidays in 2016. It will have a fixed price.

“We’ve prepared a set of Super Mario stickers for iMessage that you can send to your friends and family,” Miyamoto said. “In the meantime, you can look forward to Super Mario Run.”

“We could not be more honored that Nintendo chose to bring Mario to iOS first,” Cook said.

In the game, Mario runs automatically to the right. If you tap on the screen, he jumps. The longer you tap, the higher he jumps. You collect coins and try to get to the flag pole before time gets out. You can play the game one-handed, “so you can play while holding a pole on the subway.” There’s also a new battle mode dubbed Toad Rally, where you try to beat someone else’s high score.

And there is a mode in which you create your own Mushroom Kingdom based upon your play results. Miyamoto himself was the lead creator for the iPhone game. Nintendo continues to partner with DeNA on the Super Mario Run launch.

After the launch of Super Mario Run in December, Nintendo plans to deliver its previously announced mobile device titles in the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem series before the end of March, 2017.

Nintendo said the game would be available in 100 countries in December in nine languages.